Diseases

"Angiodysplasia" is the term doctors use for blood vessels that become abnormal. (AVM's or arteriovenous malformation are an abnormal tangle of blood vessels) The "GI tract," short for the gastrointestinal tract, includes all the organs in the body that digest food.

Barrett's esophagus is a condition in which the tissue lining the esophagus — the muscular tube that connects the mouth to the stomach — is replaced by tissue that is similar to the lining of the intestine. This process is called intestinal metaplasia.

Ablation therapy is performed during an upper endoscopy by the doctor using a HALO ablation catheter. Heat energy is delivered through the catheter in a precise manner to destroy the thin Barrett’s esophageal tissue until it is no longer viable or alive.

Celiac Disease is a disease that impairs your body's ability to break down certain foods. People with celiac may get sick if they eat foods that contain a protein called gluten — such as in bread, pasta, pizza and cereals.

A polyp is a growth that springs from the outermost lining of hollow organs. They can occur anywhere in the colon (large intestine). Up to 40 percent of people older than 60 have at least one colon polyp.

Crohn's Disease

Diverticulosis is when small pouches in your colon (large intestine) form and bulge outward through weak spots in the outer colon wall. About 60 percent of Americans over the age of 60 have diverticulosis. When the pouches become infected or inflamed, the condition is called diverticulitis. Diverticulitis happens in only 10 to 25 percent of people with diverticulosis.

Eosinophilic Esophagitis (also known as EOE or EE) is a redness and inflammation of the lining of the esophagus, the swallowing tube that connects the mouth to the stomach. During your upper endoscopy, the doctor may have seen many rings or ridges in your esophagus.

An esophageal ring, or Schatzki ring, is a ring of tissue near the end of the food pipe (esophagus) just above the opening to the stomach. The area with the ring is narrower than the rest of the food pipe. A stricture is a narrowing of the esophagus (food pipe).

Esophageal varices are swollen blood vessels in the esophagus (the swallowing tube, the tube that connects the mouth to the stomach). Esophageal varices may appear in people with serious liver disease.

Esophagitis is a redness and inflammation of the lining of the esophagus, the swallowing tube that connects the throat to the stomach. Esophagitis is caused by an irritation or infection in the esophagus.

Gastritis is a redness and inflammation of the lining of the stomach either new (acute) or chronic. It means that white blood cells move into the wall of the stomach as a response to some type of injury. Gastritis does not mean that there is an ulcer or cancer.

Hemorrhoids are swollen, but normally present blood vessels, inside (internal) or around and outside (external) of the anus and lower rectum that stretch under pressure. Hemorrhoids are usually not very painful or critical, but can be bothersome and develop at any age.

Hepatitis

A hiatal hernia is an upward bulge of the stomach through the diaphragm muscle, the horizontal muscle that separates the chest from the stomach. Normally, the esophagus (the swallowing tube) passes through a hole (the hiatus) in the diaphragm to reach the stomach. In a hiatal hernia, the stomach bulges up into the chest through that opening.

Irritable Bowel (IBS) is a "syndrome", meaning a group of symptoms. The common symptoms of IBS are belly pain or discomfort, cramping, bloating, gas, the feeling that you have not finished a bowel movement, diarrhea and/or constipation.